2022 PPBDL Season Preview

● Commissioner’s Message
3

● 10 Best Team In League History
5

● Amateur Draft Recap
11

● The Farm Report
15

● Free Agency Recap
22

● Top 25 Contracts For 2022
25

● Trade Trees
29

● Manager’s Preseason Poll
34

● Team Previews
35

● Bold Predictions
47

● Pick 50 Challenge
48

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April 2022,

It got off to a rocky start, but we made it. We are here for the seventh season of the
Phoenix Phantasy Baseball Dynasty League! Now that we are assured to have a full season of
Major League Baseball in 2022, we can all breathe easily and enjoy another fantastic season of
real, and fantasy baseball.

Last year was absolutely wild in PPBDL. We had our playoff races decided in the final
week of the season, and needed tiebreakers to decide the Wildcard teams. We had a Wildcard
matchup decided by a tiebreaker, and we were all watching the Yankees and Red Sox on
Sunday Night Baseball take our Championship match down to the very wire, and our 2021
Champion was crowned on a tiebreaker as well (Fuck Tyler Wade, right Urby?).

This offseason has been great. Vegas Round II was a success, as we had our first
official “League Dinner” and Hammy didn’t go to the Twilight Zone. Double bonus there. There
have been a TON of trades, and we had probably our wildest Unrestricted Free Agent Auction in
quite some time.

This season is a complete breath of fresh air for everyone in the league. For the first time
since our inaugural season in 2016, every team (minus one) has a chance to compete for the
title. With a sort of factory reset that we saw coming for years, tons of salary cap space and
great players have reshaped the league into a free for all, at least to start the year. A lot will
change over the next six months, but at least for now there is not just one or two favorites in my
eyes. I think this will be our most interesting and competitive season to date, and I can’t wait to
share the ride with you all. Good luck to everyone in 2022. May the best man/team win.

Lastly, I want to thank each and every one of you for helping and contributing to this
2022 Season Preview Magazine. I definitely could not have done it without you all. I also want to
give personal thanks and shout outs to Eddie, Alex, Carter, Derek, and Ryan C for their
individual article contributions.

-Josh “Team Commish” Bies

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TL;DR version: If you don’t want to read about Commish and Ryan C skip to #5.
The Process. I took the final roto standings from every season, filtered the highest roto scores,
took the teams that posted roto scores over 100 points (14 teams) and re-did the roto standings
for those teams. Below are the top 10 teams in league history.

*Three teams from the 2020 COVID season had roto scores in the top 14. With the season only
being 37% long I prorated the counting stats of those three teams. At the end of the day it didn’t
matter as the three COVID season teams finished 12, 13, 14 on the list.

10. 2016 Team Commish
Regular Season Record: 15-5-3
Final Standing: 3rd
76 Roto Points

Finishing tied for best record in the inaugural season of
PPBDL, Josh established the kind of team that dynasty
managers dream of. This begins a four year stretch
where Team Commish posted a top 10 team in league
history. For real just skip to #5 if you don’t want to read
a bunch of praise for what Josh established from
season one.

Key Contributors
Jeurys Familia: 51 Saves
Andrew Miller: 12 saves/26holds/123k/1.45era/.69whip
Bryce Harper: 24HR/21SB
Carlos Santana: 34HR/.366 OBP

An interesting season when you look back at the roster. Team Commish lead the league in
Runs and K’s. He had four players post 100+ Runs (Votto, Kinsler, LeMahieu, Bogaerts), but
only had two players post more than 30 HR (Duvall and Santana). It gets even weirder when
you look at who was on his pitching staff, where you could argue his best SP was Ian Kennedy
(11w/184k/3.68era/1.22whip). Only one pitcher posted 200+ ks (Pineda) but he still lead the
league in Ks. Posting a league average team ERA and WHIP his pitching was held together by
his RPs. In what might have been the best stat line by a RP, Andrew Miller did everything and
Familia posted the last 50 save season. Ultimately Josh fell to eventual Champ Hammy, in the
second round of the playoffs, with Familia giving a final weekly stat line of 3.1
IP/1K/8.10era/1.80whip/0saves.

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9. 2016 New Team 4
Regular Season Record: 13-6-4
Final Standing: 4th
88 Roto Points

The only other team from 2016 to make the list was
NT4. Almost a bit suspicious that the commish and co
commish end up on this list a bunch…

Key Contributors
Brian Dozier: 104r/42hr/99rbi/18sb/.340obp/.546slg
(aka Albies 22 stat line)
Mookie Betts: 122r/31hr/113rbi/26sb/.363obp/.534slg
(aka Mookie’s 22 stat line)
Addison Reed: 40 Holds
F-Rod: 44 saves with fucking Detroit

Ryan’s calling card has always been hitting (ironic), but NT4 lead the league in the most
categories at three with Runs, RBI, and SLG. It’s easy to see why with Dozier and Betts lines
alone, but NT4 had five players with 30+ HR (Kemp, Gattis, Mookie, Cespedes, Dozier) and
nine players over 20. Throw in the 43 SB from Rajai and 34 from Hernan Perez, and this was
the cheap man's version of Beast’s lineup. The pitching staff was above average but no major
standout except for an injury shortened season from Yu Darvish. Ryan was taken down in the
second round of the playoffs by Urby who posted one of the greatest pitching stat lines ever
(68.2ip/73k/2.75era/1.063/12w/5sv/1hld). This is also the single week record for wins with 12,
second is 9 in a week so wrong place, wrong week for NT4, but not to worry as we move to the
8th best team on the list.

8. 2018 New Team 4
Regulars Season Record: 14-7
Final Standing: 1st
93 Roto Points

We see our first team to win the league show up on the list with Ryan at #8, who also finished
with the best regular season record and closed it out
with a championship.

Key Contributors
Trevor Story: 88r/37hr/108rbi/27sb/.348obp/.567slg
JD Martinez: 111r/43hr/130rbi/6sb/.402obp/.629slg
Mookie: 129r/32hr/80rbi/30sb/.438obp/.640slg
Verlander: 16w/290k/2.52era/.90whip
DeGrom: 10w/269k/1.70era/.91whip
Buehler: 8w/151k/2.62era/.96whip

Acquiring deGrom, Verlander, and JD Martinez prior to
the trade deadline pushed NT4 from contender to Champ. It also makes more sense as to how
Ryan didn’t have a higher Roto score as the 2018 team did not lead the league in any category.
An all-around balanced team from top to bottom, this was the original Flags Fly Forever team as
Ryan gave up Devers and Bregman on rookie deals right when they were taking off. Lastly, this
team is much higher on my biased ranks, the pitching staff alone uninjured and in their prime is
enough to put them in the top half of the list.

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7. 2018 Team Commish
Regular Season Record: 14-7
Final Standing: 2nd
94 Roto Points

The second time we see Josh’s dynasty team
show up on the list, but another top 10 team that
fell short in the championship. Finishing tied
with New Team 4 (and the #8 team on the list) in
the regular season with the best overall record
of 14-7, Team Commish led the league in three
categories, OBP, Wins, Ks.

Key Contributors
Javier Baez:
101r/34hr/111rbi/21sb/.321obp/.554slg
Bryce Harper: 103r/34hr/100rbi/13sb/.393obp/.496slg
Patrick Corbin: 11w/246k/3.15era/1.05whip
Blake Snell: 21w/221k/1.89era/.97whip

Besides Urby’s team last year this might be the best team that should have won it all. Credit to
Ryan for making those trades to compete against Josh and his insane pitching staff. Team
Commish had SEVEN pitchers who had 180+ Ks, with three over 200 and Greinke at 199. This
might have been the most successful team build when it comes to the SP/RP’s getting holds.
Jesse Biddle, Collin McHugh, Jeurys Familia combined for
208ip/244k/5sv/46holds/3.00era/1.20whip. Ultimately Team Commish couldn’t complete the
back-to-back that eludes the league to this day.

6. 2017 Team Commish
Regular Season Record: 14-2-6
Final Standing: 1st
96 Roto Points

Okay truth in lending….he’s on the list one more time so I’ll make
this one quick. Team Commish’s first championship, team and the
only 2017 team on the list.

Key Contributors
Joey Votto: 106r/36hr/100rbi/5sb/.454obp/.578slg
Zach Greinke: 17w/215k/3.20era/1.07whip
Justin Verlander: 15w/219k/3.36era/1.17

Look, fully acknowledging that Josh is the GOAT in the league as
the only two time champion, and I mean this with all due respect
(Ricky Bobby) but this team is just not exciting. For real his 2018
team was way better. On the hitting side it’s a couple of dudes
putting up stat lines like Brett Gardner’s
96r/21hr/63rbi/23sb/.350obp/.428slg, and then Greinke and JV
carrying the pitching staff. Bryce Harper was hurt this season and
only played in 111 games and missed the playoffs. Okay now it's
sounding like I’m shitting on a championship season, but he did tie
Allan in the second round of the playoffs and advanced on a tiebreaker.

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5. 2021 Demolishers
Regular Season Record: 15-6
Final Standing: 5th
98 Roto Points

A new face on the list as Jared’s best team came
up short in the first round of the playoffs losing to
the eventual Champ Urb…. Tyler effing Wade.

Key Contributors
Trea Turner: 107r/28hr/77rbi/32sb/.375obp/.536slg
Tatis Jr.: 99r/42hr/97rbi/25sb/.346obp/.611slg
Charlie Morton: 14w/216k/3.34era/1.04whip

I think I’ve predicted Jared to win the league pretty much every preseason. Every year he goes
into the season with a stacked lineup that just needs his pitching staff to click. Last year was
about as close as it comes to it all falling in place. Even with Tatis on and off the IL every other
week, Jared posted the fourth highest regular season roto score of all time. In what’s an all-time
PPBDL “What if?”, Demo’s season could be summed up with the Trevor Bauer incident. Having
a Cy Young contender off your team for the second half of the season and playoff run is pain,
but he wasn’t even eligible to be moved off the regular roster and took up a valuable spot.
Demo had five players with over 30 HR and with a healthy Tatis and Turner going into the
playoffs Jared needed one more arm to push him into serious contention.

4. 2019 Team Commish
Regular Season Record: 12-9
Final Standing: 3rd
100 Roto Points

Last one guys, promise. Interesting that Josh’s best team posted his worst regular season
record. If you’re wondering where his other championship team fell on the list, his 2020 COVID
team came in 12th all time.

Key Contributors
Christian Yelich: 100r/44hr/97rbi/30sb/.429obp/.671slg
Anthony Rendon: 117r/39hr/126rbi/5sb/.412obp/.598slg
Bryce Harper: 98r/35hr/114rbi/15sb/.372obp/.510slg
Garret Cole: 20w/326k/2.50era/.89whip
Jack Flaherty: 11w/231k/2.75era/.97whip
Shane Bieber: 15w/259k/3.28era/1.05whip

2019 had three of the top four best teams of all time so
for his team to finish third at the end of the season can
be chalked up to bad timing, running into Eddie
Money-Ball in the second round of the playoffs. 2019
saw teams post five all time single season roto records
with Team Commish breaking single season record for
K’s with 1846, and finishing 2nd all time in regular
season wins with 119. The pitching staff was the greatest of all time with Cole (2nd in Cy Young),
Bieber (4th), Flaherty (4th), Giolito (6th), Kershaw (8th) all of them going 200+ k’s with the
exception of Kershaw who had 189. On the hitting side he had Yelich (2nd mvp voting), Rendon
(3rd), Freeman (8th). An all-time stacked line up worthy of the four spot on our list. This is my
favorite Team Commish team.

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3. 2021 I Raped Papi/Viral Load
Regular Season Record: 17-4
Final Standing: 1st
111 Roto Points
Ryan had a good team until he traded it to Carter.

2. 2019 Old Team 4
Regular Season Record: 16-5
Final Standing: 4th
117 Roto Points
We see Ryan’s third team on the list and the second best of all time finish 4th in the 2019
season. Losing to Team Commish in the runner up game.
Key Contributors
Cody Bellinger: 121r/47hr/115rbi/15sb/.406obp/.629slg
Mookie: 135r/29hr/80rbi/16sb/.391obp/.524slg
Trevor Story: 111r/35hr/85rbi/23sb/.363obp/.554slg
Jacob deGrom: 11w/255k/2.43era/.97whip
Walker Buehler: 14w/215k/3.26era/1.04whip
Zack Greinke: 18w/187k/2.93era/.98whip
Ryan set two single season records in the 2019 season,
HR (270) and SLG (.523), on his way to the best regular
season record and the overall 1 seed in the playoffs.
Ryan ended up losing to Allan in the second round of the
playoffs, and here’s how close the matchup was: 4r, tied
in hr, 1 rbi, 1 sb, .003 slg, 2 k. To quote Ryan, “Pain”. Having an MVP and Cy Young on one
team is very rare, but when you combine Belli and deGrom with five other batters that hit over
35HR, it’s crazy to think he finished 4th this year.

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1. 2019 Eddie Money-Ball
Regular Season Record: 15-6
Final Standing: 1st
144 Roto Points
Look. I didn’t come up with this article already knowing I had statistically the best team of all
time. OkY, maybe I did. The 2019 season was ridiculous.
Key Contributors
Acuna: 127r/41hr/101rbi/37sb/.365obp/.518slg
Soto: 110r/34hr/110rbi/12sb/.401obp/.548slg
Villar: 111r/24hr/73rbi/40sb/.339obp/.453slg
NELSON CRUZ: 81r/41hr/108rbi/0sb/.392obp/.639slg
Seth Lugo: 7w/6sv/21hld/104k/2.7era/.90whip
Eddie set two all time single season records with Runs (845) and RBI (787), while also leading
the league in SB (114), OBP (.369), Holds (88), and WHIP (1.16). Had it not been for Ryan’s
team, Eddie Money-ball would have set the single season mark for HR and SLG that year. In
what would have been the matchup of the century, Old Team 4 and Eddie Money-ball never met
in the playoffs in 2019 and I am grateful for that. I should probably address the trade that
brought me Scherzer, Verlander, zero help Sale, and zero help Kluber. A similar trade to Ryan’s
championship run and the true Flags Fly Forever move, it pains me to look back and say that I
gave up Luis Robert, Austin Riley, and Yordan Alvarez.
Well there you have it gents, the 10 best teams of all time according to Roto standings.

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The 2022 AMA draft in Vegas was a deep draft from the outside with a good mix of newly MLB
drafted guys, and prospects who have climbed the board the last year. Will it top the 2018 AMA
draft? Unlikely but possible.

Round 1
1. Gutter Sluts - Anthony Volpe
2. Titty Sprinkles - Jack Leiter
3. Team Commish - Marcelo Mayer
4. I Raped Papi - Jordan Lawler
5. I Raped Papi - Luis Matos
6. Team Commish - Jordan Walker
7. Demolishers - Brayan Rocchio
8. Team Commish - Kahlil Watson
9. The Beast - Josh Lowe
10. I Raped Papi - Nick Yorke
11. Hammy - Orelvis Martinez
12. I Raped Papi - Gabriel Moreno

The 1st round was a good mix of newly drafted guys and young guys who shot up the top 100 list
in a year. Anthony Volpe looks like he should have been drafted before Dominguez just a couple
years ago. Jack Leiter is about as sure as they come as top pitching draftees and potentially the
Rangers top pitching prospect ever. Mayer, Lawler, Watson, and my sleeper that wasn’t so much
a sleeper Orelvis Martinez are all legit SS and can make the big league roster next year, and it’s a
coin flip who is the top guy in that section. Screw you Hammy as I didn’t expect you to take him
at 1.11 and expected him to fall to 1.12, but I should have taken him at 1.10. Bad call on me.

The value pick in Round 1 had to be Josh Lowe, the most
MLB ready guy and some would say should have a good
shot at the AL ROY this year. Getting a guy that can and
should produce this year is a steal at 1.9. The reach many
thought was at 1.7 with Demo taking Brayan Rocchio, but in
my evaluation as well as other analysts, he could be a
Lindor type guy and he wouldn’t have made it out of the 1st
round. So Demo made the right choice if he really wanted
him. Myself as well as everyone was chasing the top hitter
in the draft in Volpe, and I would have kept my pick at 1.2 if
Papi didn’t take him there. With that pick I moved down to
1.4 for 1.2 and added another couple picks as Square
moved up and took the best pitcher in the draft. Overall, I
think everyone was pleased with their picks in Round 1 and
we saw seven middle infielders go, one pitcher, two
outfield, one corner infield, and one catcher.

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Round 2
1. I Raped Papi - Everson Pereira
2. The Beast - Daniel Espino
3. The Beast - Jackson Jobe
4. Bad Specimen Collection - Miguel
Vargas
5. Hammy - Sam Bachman
6. Need The DP - Kyle Muller
7. Dodger Blue - Henry Davis
8. Gutter Sluts - Bobby Miller
9. Titty Sprinkles - Brady House
10. Need The DP - Cole Winn
11. Team Urby - Luis Medina
12. Dodger Blue - Colton Cowser

The 2nd round was pitcher heavy with seven pitchers taken, two outfield, one Shortstop, one
corner infielder, and one catcher. Henry Davis was the best value pick as some thought he would
potentially be a top five pick in the draft, myself included. Him falling to 2.7 was a huge pickup
for Dodger Blue. The biggest reach in this round has to be at 2.1 with Everson Pereira, and my
justification was it was unlikely for him to get back to me at 3.2 so I made a decision that I
wanted to reach when I probably could have traded down a couple picks and got him there, but
he's a young player with star potential. The second best value pick is another guy who could
have been justified going in the 1st round and that is Brady House to Square. This kid could end
up having more power and being an all around better player than Lawler or Mayer, only time

will tell. Square fell into this one as his
target was Bobby Miller, and of course Papi
being a homer to the shitty team that he
played for grabbed him the pick before at
2.8. Daniel Espino I believe is the best
pitcher taken in this draft at 2.2, and Beast
went pitcher heavy here, and took what I
believe to be the 3rd best pitcher available
with maybe the highest ceiling only behind
Leiter in the entire draft. Great 1-2 punch
Beast. The best value pitcher in the draft
who I saw as the number 3 pitcher in the
draft was Cole Winn going to DP at 2.10. It's
tough to know with pitchers as they will
have arm issues, but this kid could end up
being a top pitcher coming out of this draft.
Dodger Blue got a steal at 2.12 with Cowser
which many analysts have touted as one of
the best hitting prospects to come out of
the 2021 MLB Draft. This would have been
my pick at 3.2 and I was expecting him to
sneak through the cracks. I believe that
Dodger won the 2nd round with the dudes
that could have been 1st rounders at the
middle and end of the 2nd round.

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Round 3
1. Demolishers - Luis Matos (LOL)
2. I Raped Papi - Benny Montgomery
3. Dodger Blue - Eury Perez
4. Hammy - Oswald Peraza
5. Titty Sprinkles - Jose Miranda
6. Bad Specimen Collection - Tyler
Soderstrom
7. Bad Specimen Collection - Korey Lee
8. Need The DP - Ethan Small
9. Dodger Blue - Taj Bradley
10. Eddie Money-Ball - Aaron Ashby
11. Demolishers - Michael Harris
12. Titty Sprinkles - Joey Wiemer

The 3rd started off with a bang. A list of excuses. A total Demo (Editor’s note: pronounced
“Dee-Mo”) move. Excuses, Excuses, EXCUSES. Just like the ones when he didn’t show up to
Vegas for a second year in a row. Allan, we need you back in year three, you were missed. Niska,
I love you and want to meet you after you win it this year with your RP. ANYWAYS. Three
pitchers stand out, all targets of mine that I was bummed I didn’t get. Eury Perez, Taj Bradley,
and Aaron Ashby. Dodger again killed it with Perez and Bradley as they can also come out on top
of this class, and Ashby is MLB ready and a piece that Eddie could use this year if needed to
compete for a title! My pick at 3.2 is another name with Cowser that could be the top hitter in
the class. He has the highest ceiling of all names drafted, maybe outside of Volpe, but easily the
lowest floor as well. Being a Rockie helps and hurts him as they don’t develop amazingly, but he
would be in a ballpark that fares well for any hitter. I was surprised and pleased that DEMO let
him go at 3.1. Jose Miranda was a nice MLB potential ready player to Square at 3.5. One of the
biggest fallers in the draft was Soderstrom at 3.6. Most likely he won't stay at catcher because
his bat is too good, and he isn’t great behind the plate, but was rated hand in hand with the
other catchers in this draft (Moreno-1st, Davis-2nd) and Soderstrom in the 3rd is tremendous
value. Demo made up for his lack of knowledge and surplus of excuses with 3.11 and Michael
Harris who could be a star in the outfield for the Braves.

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Round 4/Compensatory
1. Need The DP - Richie Palacios
2. Bad Specimen Collection - Tyler Freeman
3. Eddie Money-Ball - MJ Melendez
4. Need The DP - Peyton Battenfield
5. I Raped Papi - Roansy Contreras
6. Gutter Sluts - Jeremy Pena
7. Demolishers - Cody Morris
8. Team Commish - Kevin Alcantara
9. Eddie Money-Ball - Dustin Harris
10. Eddie Money-Ball - Won-Bin Cho
11. I Raped Papi - Gavin Williams
12. Dodger Blue - Diego Cartaya
13. Eddie Money-Ball - Elly De La Cruz

The 4th round and Comp pick was a wide range of flyers, MLB ready guys, and some great value
pitchers that still fit in the potential top of this class. Jeremy Pena to Papi at 4.6 could be a nice
value for what could be the starting Shortstop for the Astros, and bring help to Papi in the near
future. My pick at 4.5 is a MLB ready pitcher in Contreras, and has a high ceiling and low floor.
Same goes for Gavin Williams at 4.11 with an organization that tends to breed top end pitching.
We had the other two top catchers in this draft fall to this round with Melendez falling to 4.3 to
Eddie and the 4.12 pick with Dodger sticking to extremely big value picks across the draft in
Cartaya. All five of the catchers drafted could have gone in any order and it would have been
justifiable. The other biggest ceiling in the entire draft alongside Montgomery went 4.8 with
Bies grabbing Kevin Alcantara. This kid is huge and could be an incredible star for years to come.
He has a lower ceiling as well, but we could see the best player in the entire AMA draft
potentially come out of that spot. Overall this draft was loaded with hitters and pitchers and
could stand the time as the deepest draft in our league. Only time will tell.

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Welcome back to the Farm!
Let’s count down the best farm systems going into the 2022 PPBDL
season. I’ve compiled prospect lists from ten sites and averaged out each
player's rank. From there I did a roto style scoring for all top 100 prospects.
Top 10 prospects were worth 10 points, 11-20 worth 9 points, 21-30 worth 8
points, and so on. Only minor league prospects are considered for the
farm system rankings, I’m not taking into account any players who have
lost their prospect eligibility. With that, kicking off the farm report is…

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12. Need the DP (11 total roto points)

Pre-Season Best Prospect: Pete Crow-Armstrong (63rd Overall)
Pre-Season Top 100 Prospects: (3) Pete Crow-Armstrong (63), Cole Winn (70), Ronny Mauricio (84).

Call Up Watch: None. No players of significant importance are AMA4 or will be making the show this
season.

Prospect Watch: Ethan Small, SP, MIL (260).
The Brew Crew’s first round pick in 2019 is starting the season
in AAA and has the makings of the next Brewer ace. In 102
career minor league innings, Small has posted a 1.67 ERA
and a 1.13 WHIP with an 11.75 K/9. Walks are a major
concern with Small as he’s posted a BB/9 above 4 the past
two seasons, but through 10 career triple-A games he has a
1.83 ERA, so he’s limiting the damage when runners get on.
I’ll trust the Brewers organization to help the command
problems and see Small moving up the prospect board all
season long.

Looking Forward: Need the DP has some interesting talent
that could develop over the coming season. Pete
Crow-Armstrong and Cole Winn are recent first round draft
picks in favorable organizations and should be moving up the
minors fast. Pitching prospects are always a flyer, but if you
want to invest in a farm system you can’t do much better than
the Brewers and Guardians so I’ll have my eyes on Small and
Peyton Battenfield (140th).

11. Urby (19 points)

Pre-Season Best Prospect: Triston Casas (18th overall)
Pre-Season Top 100 Prospects (4): Triston Casas (18), Jasson Dominguez (33), Luis Medina (90), Joey
Bart (95).

Call Up Watch: Urby has a whopping six players that are on AMA contracts this year, with four of them
already or close to exhausting their rookie eligibility. The big name being Wander Franco. While not a
prospect in the traditional sense there’s no way Urby doesn’t bring him up, in fact we should probably see
him up opening week just to ensure there’s no threat with the Rule 5 Draft.

Prospect Watch: Joey Bart, C, SF
With the retirement of Buster Posey, the Giants
catcher position opened up and should be
Bart’s for the taking. In 67 games at AAA last
season, he hit 10hr/46rbi/.362obp/.476slg. The
Giants called him up during the COVID season
so this is another Rule 5 guy that will need to
be called up at some point this year. With a full
season or regular at bats, Bart should be
rotating in with Zunino on Urby’s roster by the
all star break.

Looking Forward:
Urby used “the process” model and went
Franco/Kirilloff one-two a couple years ago.
With half his minor league Rule 5 eligible this season, he’ll have to make some call ups and this could
allow some major flexibility towards the end of the season. Being able to move Franco or Mize up and
down could ensure the extra counting stats needed for a win. This is an older farm system in relation to
AMA contracts, and Urby has built this team over the past couple years to finally win the championship.

16

10. Demolishers (28 points)

Pre-Season Best Prospect: Bobby Witt (1)
Pre-Season Top 100 Prospects (5): Bobby Witt (1), Brayan Rocchio (41), Nick Lodolo (50), Michael Harris
(66), Austin Wells (89)

Call Up Watch: No players of significant importance are AMA4 or will be making the show this season.

Prospect Watch: Austin Wells, C, NYY
2021 Line at A:
103games/83R/16HR/76RBI/16SB/.393OBP/.475SLG
The Yankees traded away Sanchez and have a hole at
catcher. Wells is a 22 year old who hasn’t seen AA yet,
but the Yankees need to win and if Wells is having a
monster year in AA we could see the call up at some
point this season.

Looking Forward: Demo’s the best SS drafter in the
league and following in Turner and Tatis’ footprints is
the number one overall prospect in Bobby Witt. Already
on the Opening Day roster and slated to play 3B, this
will give Jared ANOTHER SS who gained another
position eligibility. The farm system as a whole is very
young with half the minor roster on AMA1 or 2 contracts
so look for Demo to move up the list next year as his
young guys get more ABs in the minors.

9. Dodger Blue (29 points)

Pre-Season Best Prospect: Henry Davis (45)
Pre-Season Top 100 Prospects (6): Henry Davis (45), Austin Martin (51), Sixto Sanchez (53), Edward
Cabrera (58), Colton Cowser (69), Diego Cartaya (79), Taj Bradley (99)

Call Up Watch: Brandon Marsh and Cristian Pache should both be in the Rule 5 zone if they’re not called
up. Marsh has already exhausted the MLB minor league eligibility and Pache should at some point during
the season.

Prospect Watch: Taj Bradley, P, TB
2021 A ball stat line: 22
Starts/103.1IP/12W/123K/.1.83ERA/.93WHIP
It’s the Rays so who knows, but Bradley is going
to be an Ace. Most likely won't see the show this
season, but look for Bradley to be a top 25
prospect going into next season and could be the
top SP prospect as well.

Looking Forward: Dodger’s assembled a unique
farm system with three catchers and several big
name pitching prospects who have not lived up to
the hype. The forgotten Forrest Whitley and the
new and improved Sixto “Bartolo” Sanchez have become afterthoughts in prospect circles, but could be
interesting plays. Picking up Bradley, Cartaya, and Cowser in the past rookie draft will pay off in the long
run as all three were steals. Edward Cabrera is next in a long line of Marlin SPs who put it together (sans
Sixto), and will be one of the top SP prospects heading into next season. With only two picks in the next
three years it’s going to be fun watching what Dodger does with his farm system.

17

8. Hammy (29 points - tied with Dodger but Tork’s the higher prospect)

Pre-Season Best Prospect: Spencer Torkelson (4)
Pre-Season Top 100 Prospects (5): Tork (4), Orelvis Martinez (46), Royce Lewis (48), Emerson Hancock
(60), DL Hall (85)

Call Up Watch: Spencer Torkelson, 1B/3B, DET
With Walsh and Chapman manning the corners it’ll
be hard for Hammy to find a spot for Tork this
season. We’ll get to see Tork from day one as he
made the Opening Day roster. Royce Lewis and
MacKenzie Gore (101) are both AMA4 and still
have MLB rookie eligibility, but are two names to
keep an eye on with Rule 5 looming.

Prospect Watch: DL Hall, P, BAL
2022-line in AA: 7G/31.2IP/3.13era/1.01whip/56k
Hall’s the hard throwing lefty of the Orioles
pitching prospect duo who’s averaged a 12 k/9 in
217 IP in the minors. Injuries and poor command
have plagued Hall throughout the past couple
seasons, there’s an outside chance that if healthy
Hall could see the majors by the end of the year.
A lefty who can get to triple digits is always someone to keep an eye on.

Looking Forward: Hammy’s pitching staff will be my focus throughout the season. Several high upside
plays with Gore, Hancock, and Hall are the pitchers to monitor in the minors this season. Tork will be a
must watch daily on an up and coming Tigers team. I think we’d all really like to see Royce Lewis stay
healthy and see him live up to the potential of an early round draft pick.

7. Beast (32 Points)

Pre-Season Best Prospect: Adley Rutschman (3)
Pre-Season Top 100 Prospects (5): Adley (3), Josh Lowe (26), Hunter Greene (35), Daniel Espino (57),
Jackson Jobe (83)

Call Up Watch: Mickey Moniak (OF, PHI) should become Rule 5 eligible this season.

Prospect Watch: Daniel Espino, P, CLE
2022 line in A ball: 20games/93.2IP/3.71era/1.14whip/152k
Espino is going to be a problem. Love that he’s with the Guardians organization and that he’s already a K
machine with a K/9 over 14. He’s got to work on control and limiting the walks, but he’s in the right
system to develop and is my pick for top SP
going into next season.

Looking Forward: Derek crushed the draft this off
season in getting Espino, Jackson Jobe, and
Josh Lowe. Adley’s time is coming and the
Orioles are going to be a fun team to watch in
the next year or two. The search for all the
infinity stones is stuck at 9 right now with Allan,
Carter and Urby still holding on to their 4th round
picks. This might be the best story line of the
AMA season as we see Derek make a bid at
league history. Conspiracy theory Ed thinks that
Derek just hates the addition of the fourth round
so he made it his life’s work to rid us all of our
picks so he can snap away the extra round.

18

6. Bad Specimen Collection (33 Points)

Pre-Season Best Prospect: Robert Hassell (19)
Pre-Season Top 100 Prospects (5): Hassell (19), Tyler Soderstrom (27), Cade Cavalli (36), Miguel Vargas
(42), Tyler Freeman (73)

Call Up Watch: No one of significant Importance.

Prospect Watch: Miguel Vargas, 3B, LAD
2021 Line A+/AA Ball:
120games/23hr/76rbi/98r/11sb/.380obp/.526slg
In the past three seasons Vargas’s lowest OBP was
.353 in 2019. The kid gets on base. Being in a
stacked Dodgers organization that is competing at all
times, it’s easy to see them parting ways with him if the
right win now piece becomes available. No viable 3B
on the Dodgers is younger than 31 so maybe this is the
3B of the future.

Looking Forward: Allan has, based on past season’s
history, two of the most coveted draft picks going into
the 2022 season in Hammy’s first and his own. I love
where Allan’s farm system is going. Acquiring Cade
Cavalli and Robert Hassell this offseason were huge
gets. Ha-Seong Kim would have gone down as the
biggest bust in PPDBL history had Ryan taken him at
2, but Soderstrom was the biggest steal in the AMA
draft based on average as the fourth best prospect
available falling to 30 overall. Once again Allan has
two first that I would really like…

5. Titty Sprinkles (55 points)

Pre-Season Best Prospect: Grayson Rodriguez (9)
Pre-Season Top 100 Prospects (8): G-Rod (9), Francisco Alvarez (15), Zac Veen (22), Nick Gonzalez
(25), Jack Leiter (29), Jose Miranda (55), Brady House (56), Hiliot Ramos (86)

Call Up Watch: Heliot Ramos (OF, SF) is the only
AMA4 contract on Team Titty this year.

Prospect Watch: Jack Leiter, P, TEX
It just feels like we’re going to see him pitching in
the Majors this season.

Looking Forward: There’s a clear tier jump
between the 12-7 guys and the next five teams.
Titty Sprinkles has a well balanced team
throughout his farm system. Alvarez will become
the top C prospect once Adley gets called up,
and with the additions of Veen and Joey Wiemer
(119), Alex has bolstered his OF. Alex may have
two of the top pitchers in baseball in the next
couple years with Leiter and Grayson Rodriguez,
and could look to wait and time their call up
together to utilize the Rook1/2 years.

19

4. New Team 4 (58 points)

Pre-Season Best Prospect: CJ Abrams (6)
Pre-Season Top 100 Prospects (10): CJ (6), Shane
Baz (11), Anthony Volpe (13), Max Meyer (24), Reid
Detmers (47), Pedro Leon (59), Eury Perez (61),
Cristian Hernandez (75), Bobby Miller (76), JJ Bleday
(97)

Call Up Watch: No AMA4 guys, but Shane Baz is the
one to keep an eye on. When he comes back healthy
what will Ryan do? He has a couple guys in Baz and
Javier that he could call up and stream to compete
this season.

Prospect Watch: Reid Detmers, P, ANA
2022 line in AA/AAA: 62IP/3.63era/1.15whip/108k/15.7 k/9
Not sure what the Angels were doing last season, throwing Detmers into the majors with all of 62 innings
pitched in the minors, including two starts at AAA. He got crushed in his five starts, but don’t let that
worry you, he’s had a k/9 over 13 since 2018 and a much better walk rate than the other pitching
prospects I’ve highlighted that just need a bit more command. The Angels announced that Detmers will
be part of their six man rotation and could see some additional time if Ohtani gets bumped throughout the
season.

Looking Forward: Ryan has one pick in the next two years, but 11 of his 15 minors are on AMA1/2
contracts. There’s a strong possibility that Ryan brings up three to four of his pitchers to stream this year
if he thinks he can compete. Gutter Team 4 has a wealth of SS’s in Abrams, Hernandez, Pena, and Volpe
who should all move into the top 50 next season. With Ryan spending big on Lindor this season it looks
like all his SS will remain down for this year and possibly next season as well.

3. Eddie MoneyBall (58 points)

Pre-Season Best Prospect: Noelvi Marte (7)
Pre-Season Top 100 Prospects (11): Noelvi (7),
Nolan Gorman (21), George Kirby (30), Hedbert
Perez (37), Garrett Mitchell (49), MJ Melendez
(52), Jordan Groshans (62), Aaron Ashby (67),
Mick Abel (74), Dustin Harris (81), Elly De La Cruz
(93)

Call Up Watch: Nolan Gorman is AMA4 but has not
played in the majors. Look for Eddie to call up
Gilbert and Ashby early in the season to use as
streaming options.

Prospect Watch: Kristian Robinson, OF, ARI
Remember him. Hopefully he got his mind right
and isn’t going to hit any more cops.

Looking Forward: Wash, rinse, repeat. Strong OF, with a bunch of middle of the prospect list guys.
Dipping my toes into the pitching prospect waters a bit more than usual. Got MJ Melendez with the
thought of getting Sal in the UFA to pair. Won-Bin Cho is the truth.

20

2. Team Commish (68 points)

Pre-Season Best Prospect: Brennen Davis (8)
Pre-Season Top 100 Prospects (9): Davis (8), Marco Luciano (10), Alek Thomas (14), Marcelo Mayer
(17), Vidal Brujan (23), Jordan Walker (28), Kahlil Watson (34), George Valera (44), Kevin Alcantara (98)

Call Up Watch: Jarred Kelenic (OF, SEA) is Rule 5 eligible.

Prospect Watch: Jordan Walker, 3B, STL
2022 line in Low A/High A:
82games/14hr/63runs/48rbi/14sb/.388obp/.548slg
Kids only 19 and crushing A ball. With Nolan
Arenado not going anywhere for a while, Walker
may have to look at another position to find playing
time. Still a year away from being a year away
there’s plenty of time for Walker to move up the
prospect ranks. We’re looking at a top 10 prospect
going into next season.

Looking Forward: Josh has the most prospects
inside the top 30 with six, and a balance of infield
and outfield studs. To me Team Commish is at a
crossroads on where he’d like to take his team. Is
the team competitive enough to compete or should he look toward next year's stacked draft and build up
the farm system a little more. Kelenic has to come up, but most everyone else will still remain in AMA
status.

1. Carter (89 points)

Pre-Season Best Prospect: Juilo Rodriguez (2)
Pre-Season Top 100 Prospects (13): Jrod (2), Riley Greene (5), Corbin Carroll (12), Josh Jung (16), Oneil
Cruz (20), Luis Matos (31), Gabriel Moreno (32), Nick Yorke (38), Jordan Lawlar (40), Quinn Priester (77),
Everson Pereira (78), Roansy Contreras (92)

Call Up Watch: No AMA4 guys.
Only Julio as a possible call up.

Prospect Watch: All of them. In
what might be the biggest gap
separation from one farm system to
the rest of the league Carter came in
with 89 Roto points, putting him 21
points ahead of the next best farm
system. As a prospect guy writing a
prospect article having traded J-Rod
to this team it pains my fingers to
type this.

Looking Forward: Carter has one
potential minor leaguer (J-Rod) that
he could call up this season. Carter
has 7, 9, and 8 draft picks in the next
three years respectively. No one
knows what the wild card heel is
going to do next and I love it. Kudos
to Carter for keeping us all on our feet as he’s already started the sell off before the season’s even
started.

21

Restricted Free Agency

Nothing to see here, everyone matched the bid. Forced us to
do an emergency vote to change RFA in the future.
-Ryan “Dodger Blue” Douglas
And we established a new high RFA in the final one lol.
-Eddie “Money-Ball” Willis

22

Unrestricted Free Agency

In one of the most highly anticipated UFA drafts in the history of
the league, the draft lived up to the hype. With big time players
becoming available in 2022 from the initial 2016 contracts,
everyone knew they needed to empty their cap space as much as
possible to have a chance at guys like Mike Trout, Gerrit Cole,
Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Jacob Degrom. There was a
whopping $1,628 in new salaries spent in this draft! For
comparison the next highest was the 2021 draft with $723.
Obviously there were a ton more roster spots (112 to be exact) to
fill with everyone gearing up for the frenzy, but there was still just
over $14 per player which is easily the highest. Eight teams came
into the draft with over $190 to spend. Teams like Eddie
Money-Ball and I Raped Papi came into the draft with over $300
in cap space, but with 15+ roster spots to fill. Gutter Sluts and
Demolishers came into the draft with $152 and $112 respectively
only needing to fill 2-3 spots. So we saw both ends of the
spectrum with regards to money being spent compared to roster
spots available. But the ultimate end result was there was all
kinds of money being spent as there was not one team strapped
for cash, which was expected. It seemed that since everyone had the budget to go after a
certain guy, we saw players get bid up quite a bit and some players went for cheap under the
cracks. 2022 could just be the beginning of a new era in the PPBDL League where money is no
longer an issue and these drafts become a common occurrence.

23

Steals of the Draft
Marcus Semien - $20 – Coming off
an MVP season, this might be the
best contract in the league. We will
see if can replicate his 2021 season,
but compared to other highly touted
players this is a GREAT deal.
Starling Marte - $15 – With a chance
to lead the league in stolen bases
every year, this is a nice deal for
someone who is in a better lineup
now to help a ton in other counting
stats.
Randal Grichuk - $1 – Now in a
cemented starting position in the
hitter’s park of Coors field, he will
absolutely return $1 value with a
possible 30 homer season.
Salvador Perez - $18 – Yes he’s a catcher and $18 seems a lot for a catcher, but with 50 home
run potential and the ability to dominate the catcher position seems like a great deal

Headscratchers of the Draft
Dinelson Lamet - $23 – The ability to receive holds/saves out of the SP position is nice but this
price is WAY too much for a player we don’t know can even produce a clean inning.
Chris Sale - $45 – Look I know, he’s a great pitcher but will already miss 2 months of the 2022
season and who knows if he can stay
healthy beyond that.
Liam Hendriks - $27 – Best closer in
the league but it's simple…Relievers
should not cost this much but with the
amount of money being divvied out
it’s not surprising.
Craig Kimbrel - $26 - Aroldis
Chapman - $23 – See above

My take on the UFA draft in 2022 is
simple… It seemed everyone had a
specific player they truly wanted and
were not going to let go. This is why
we saw great players like Marcus
Semien and Starling Marte go for so
cheap, because it's possible everyone
else was just targeting a different
player with their respective positions.
While I believe we all had Plan B’s going into the draft, it seemed like since most of us had the
money to spend we were not going to let our players we wanted go without a fight. I absolutely
love drafts like this and I hope we see similar ones in the years to come.

24

Flags fly forever, but contracts are king. We’re going into the seventh season of our dynasty
league and you could make a case that we haven’t had a true dynasty team. Team Commish
obviously comes to mind as a two-time PPBDL champ and one-time runner up, but we’ve never
had a back to back champ who dominated the league for two years straight (Carter’s on the
clock…). The trade deadline has become the maker of champions as an argument can be
made that half our champs were the direct result of blockbuster trades. Those trades are
usually the stud on an expiring contract for a handful of uber prospects or high draft pick. What
I wanted to look at was the dynasty building blocks, the players who have the best contracts
going into this season. It’s a take on Bill Simmons trade value article to where he eventually
gets to the player that is untradeable.

*I’m writing this prior to the UFA draft and don’t want to step on the UFA recap article so I’ve
excluded any of the steals and deals that came from the Sunday night draft.

20. Nestor Cortes Jr., NYY, SP/RP, Dodger Blue,
$1, 2yr-23

So my thought process with Nestor is that he will
end up in the bullpen and eventually take over the
9th inning role, BUT not before he qualifies as an SP
going into next year. Ryan could be looking at the
lone exception to the SP who gets Saves.

19. Tyler Mahle, CIN, SP, Demo, $1, 4yr-24

Mahle Home splits: 5.63 era/1.48whip
Mahle Road splits: 2.30 era/1.04whip

When the Reds trade Mahle he’s going to be a top
20 SP on a $1 contract with three years left.

18. Tanner Houck, BOS, SP, Urby, $2, 4yr-24

Small sample size of only 86 IP in the majors, but a
2.93era/1.08whip with above an 11 k/9 penciled in as the #3 starter, sign me up. Locked in on a
four year deal and turning 26 this year, Urby could have an absolute steal.

17. Emmanuel Clase, CLE, RP, Urby, $1, 4yr-24

Full disclosure, I think Urby is the next dynasty team. Clase is the only closer on the list, but at
$1 and only 24 years old I can’t begin to think about the haul that he could get from Niska.
(EDIT) And as we saw in the UFA, saves aren’t cheap, thanks Niska….So for Urby to have a top
three closer with three years left on a buck, this allows him to focus salary elsewhere.

25

16. Brandon Lowe, TB, 2B, Hammy, $4, 4yr-23

Criminally underrated. Since becoming a full time starter in 2019, Lowe is behind only Semien
(85) and Muncy (83) in home runs with 70. He only played in half the games in 2019 and put up
70 hr in 260 less at bats then the other two. Now 2B was thin until Mookie and Trea, so as they
lose eligibility and Altuve declines Hammy could be looking at the second best 2B behind
Alibes.

15. John Means, BAL, SP, Titty Sprinkles,
$7, 3yr-23

Man I love John Means. His 3 year average
is 3.82era and a 1.08whip. Dude was
dealing last year prior to injury. He’s got a
problem with the long ball, averaging almost
two a game. Baltimore moved the left field
wall back 30 feet and added five to the
height. John Means might win the Cy Young.

14. Rafael Devers, BOS, 3B, Need the DP,
$13, Arb1

Third base sucks. All the studs are twice as much and in JRam’s case next season, five times
as much. Devers is tied for the most expensive contract on the list, but lacks speed which
would move him higher up. The top five highest salary 3B average out to $41 so the contract
window for Devers is closing fast. I dunno, I guess I’m really not selling Devers and this
contract, sorry Niska I’ve got a couple more of your guys coming up. But Devers is easily a top
two or three 3B for the remainder of this contract and a great trade chip.

13. Luis Robert, CHW, CF,
New Team 4, $8, Rook3

He’s a stud, but can he stay
healthy? Projections have
him as a 30/20 guy which
puts him on the short list of
guys you’d want to build
your dynasty team around.
I’d have him higher on the
list, but I need to see a
season where he gets over
300 at bats. The other
30/30 guys (Acuna/Tatis)
have proved it even if they
are injury risks.

12. Matt Olson, ATL, 1B, Need the DP, $8, Arb1

The poor man's Freeman. Olson is going to rake this year. 40/100/100 locked. The usual no
speed first base profile, but was fourth in OBP and SLG from all 1B last season. Moving out of
that shit line up in Oakland to the Braves should cement him as the second best 1B for the rest
of this contract. Nearly all other 1B have question marks (age, salary, consistency), but Olson is
a true dynasty building block.

26

11. Brandon Woodruff, MIL, Eddie
Money-ball, $1, 4yr-22

EDIT. So the UFA might have just fucked this
up. The new top five highest SP salaries
average out to $67. Woodruff, going into his
final year of the one dollar contract, is up for
extension and if he performs as well as I’d like,
I may have screwed myself with the Cole deal.

Cheap stud SPs are the most valuable dynasty
asset in my mind. In a position that is
constantly seeing big named guys go down for
multiple months it’s reassuring that even if
woodruff went down he didn’t take a large chunk of my salary with him. Posting a 3 year
average of 3.23 era/1.07whip Woody should help me contend throughout his two year extension
window starting next season.

10. Yordan Alvarez, HOU, LF, Old Team 4, $4, Rook3

Alvarez getting LF eligibility bumps him up the list. LF dries up faster than any hitting spot other
than Catcher. As long as he can stay healthy and keep the LF eligibility, Ryan has the top LF in
the game with six years left on his contract.

9. Kyle Tucker, HOU, RF, I Have 7 Cats, $8, Rook3

Tucker exploded last season going 30/14 with a .360 OBP
and .557SLG. One of the handful of 30/20 threats, he’s
shown the ability to play a full season and has avoided the
injury bug. Just turning 25 with six years of control left
Allan won’t have to worry about RF for a very long time.

8. Sandy Alcantara, MIA, SP, Need the DP, $4, Rook2

His three year average puts him at a 3.40era/1.19whip, but
for me it’s the durability. He’s thrown 197.1, 42, 205.2
innings in the last three seasons. He might be an
accumulator with a K/9 hovering around eight the last
couple seasons, but he’s been healthy while posting solid
ratios. Another major factor is that Sandy is still on the
Rook2 contract allowing Niska to call him up and down all
season and giving him essentially a streamer who could
put up SP1 numbers.

7. Fernando Tatis Jr., SD, SS/RF/Motorcyclist, Demo,
$9, Rook4

It pains me that he’s so low on the list. The injuries are
starting to pile up and if you asked me who I’d want going forward I think all the guys left on the
list I’d take over Tatis. He’ll probably come back and post a 20/20 line post all star break, and
we’re talking about him as a top three guy next season, but he’s got to come back and prove it.
It’ll be interesting to see where the Padres play him when he does come back and what type of
eligibility he’ll have next season. With five years of control for the face of the MLB this rank
could look way off a year from now.

27

6. Vladdy Jr., TOR, 1B, Beast, $6, Rook3

It was a coin flip between an injured Tatis
and Vlad for the six spot. Vlad will be the
best 1B for the remainder of his six years of
control and is on one of the best contracts
in all of PPBDL. He is so far above most 1B
in OBP and SLG that he might have the
biggest positional advantage outside of Sal
Perez at Catcher. You can’t find what Vlad
does at the end of drafts (EDIT, and Freddie
just went for a very reasonable $60 as the
next best option). The cost and length of
control for one of the best hitters in all of
baseball gives Derek a dynasty
cornerstone.

5. Acuna Jr. ATL, RF, Eddie Moneyball, $13, Arb1

Coming back from ACL scares me. The projections that EVERY system is throwing out there
scares me more. I don’t see how he’s going to post a 30/20 season this year, but I’d gladly take
it. Dude’s a 40/40 threat when healthy, but will he ever get back to that post ACL tear? I doubt
it, but he’s still a stud. He hasn’t had an assortment of injuries, it’s just one major one, so
hopefully he comes back mid-May and crushes it. He’s got two more years before the extension
hits and sets me up well as a 1-2 punch with Soto. For the record, I would maybe only trade
him for Ohtani.

4. Bo Bichette, TOR, SS, Titty Sprinks, $9, Rook4

Just turned 24. Posted a 29hr/121r/102rbi/25sb season hitting at the top of the Blue Jays
stacked line up. With Tatis being out, SS is all his this season. Alex took over a dumpster fire,
but was given this diamond to build his team around.

3. Juan Soto, WAS, RF, Eddie Moneyball, $8, Arb1

I love Soto. His lineup improved with the addition of Nelly, but it still sucks. I couldn’t put him
higher because RF is very deep, and it’s easier to find a replacement if he goes on the IL. I’ll
assume that Soto follows in Harpers footsteps of putting up stupid numbers in an average to
below average lineup.

2. Corbin Burnes, MIL, SP, I Have 7 Cats, $6,
Rook2

Top three pitcher on a Rook2 streaming contract
while on an amazing contract for the next five years
before extensions. Allan will have Burnes through
his prime before having to pay up for him.

1. Shohei Ohtani, LAA, SP/UT/ Urby, $13, Arb1
He won me lots of money and is awesome. I’m so
happy that he stayed healthy. I’ll assume it continues and he’s the greatest player of all time.
Urby gets a four year window to win a couple chips with him before he goes to the UFA as a 31
year old. If he keeps it up he might be the first $200 player.

28

Welcome to Part I of Trade Trees! This is a trip down memory lane, to be able to close the book on deals
that included future picks at the time. This way we can see how picks changed hands, and look at the
different value of the pick throughout time. For the magazine, I looked at trades that occurred in 2018
that included future draft picks, and throughout the year, I plan on continuing to look at subsequent
years as well. But for now, enjoy this preview of things to come.
The Process: I looked at trades involving a first round draft pick that occurred in 2018. Then I built a
‘Trade Tree’, pulling in every draft pick included in every trade with them. Salary and contract
information is not included in this analysis. That may make a difference in some deals that don’t seem to
make sense. Draft picks with only the owner's name occur during the season (2019.1Josh), while draft
picks with the pick number [2019.1.2 (Hammy)] have occurred in the offseason with the draft order set.
In the dust settled section, in parenthesis are the owners who traded that asset. Let’s take a look at six
Trade Trees from 2018 that I feel were impactful to the league going forward.

29

Tree 1

2019. 1 (Josh) – Chris Paddack drafted by Ryan C at pick 1.11
2019.1 (Hammy) – Alex Kirilloff drafted by Urby at pick 1.2

After the dust settles…
Josh gets: Correa (Niska)
Niska gets: Gray (Josh), Bogaerts (Josh), Hendricks (Ryan C), Schoop (Ryan
C), Devers (Ryan C), Severino (Urby)
Ryan C gets: DeGrom (Niska), Chris Paddack (Drafted 2019.1.11 | Niska)
Urby gets: Alex Kirilloff (Drafted 2019.1.2 | Niska)

My thoughts:
Niska turned the 2 best assets here into a handful of players, 2 that are still on his roster in 2022. This probably
makes it worth it to him, although Severino for the #2 overall pick is a bit of a head scratcher.

Tree 2

2019.2.3 – Jarred Kelenic drafted by Josh
2019.3 (Ryan D) – Ke’Bryan Hayes drafted by
Hammy at 3.3
2019.3 (Jared) – Victor Victor Mesa draft by
Hammy at 3.5
2019.3.10 – Christian Pache drafted by Ryan
D
2020.1 (Carter) – Marco Luciano drafted by
Josh at 1.8
2021.2 (Carter) - Edward Cabrera drafted by Ryan D at 2.7
2021.2 (Ryan D)- Brailyn Marquez drafted by Josh at 2.9

After the dust settles…
Carter gets: Foltynewicz (Ryan D), Escobar (Ryan D), Verlander (Ryan D), Cueto
(Hammy), DeJong (Ryan D)
Ryan D gets: Greinke (Josh), Votto (Josh), Duplantier (Carter), Tanaka (Carter),
Dickerson (Carter), Franco (Jared), Barraclough (Jared), Ozuna (Carter),
Christian Pache (Drafted | Josh), Edward Cabrera (Drafted | Carter)
Hammy gets: Ke’Bryan Hayes (Drafted | Carter), Victor Victor Mesa (Drafted
2019.3.5| Carter)
Josh gets: Jarred Kelenic (Drafted 2019.2.3| Ryan D), Marco Luciano (Drafted
2020.1.8| Ryan D), Brailyn Marquez (Drafted | Ryan D)
Jared: Norris, Haniger
My thoughts:
This one got a little convoluted. Based on talent acquired and still held, I think Josh comes out the winner. I do think
Ryan D has gotten some decent value in some of these trades, but nobody that is making much of an impact in
2022.

30

Tree 3

2019.1 (Ryan C) – Dylan Cease drafted by Ryan C at 1.12
2019.2 (Ryan C)- Jonathon Loaisiga drafted by Jared at 2.12
2020.3 (Jared) – Nick Lodolo drafted by Jared at 3.4
After the dust settles…
Urby gets: Martinez (Ryan C), Aguilar (Jared)
Ryan C gets: Bumgarner (Urby)
Jared gets: Solarte, Jonathan Loaisiga (Drafted | Urby)

My thoughts:
I am not considering it an acquisition if a team acquires
its own pick back. Jared getting his pack back and
drafting Nick Lodolo, as well as Ryan getting his back and
taking Dylan Cease isn’t listed under After the dust
settles for this reason. Urby comes out on top here,
flipping MadBum for picks that he turned into Martinez and Aguilar.

Tree 4

2021.1 (Carter) – Logan Gilbert draft by Eddie at 1.7
2019.1.6 – Nolan Gorman drafted by Eddie
After the dust settles…
Mac gets: Nola (Eddie)
Carter gets: Morton (Mac)
Eddie gets: Kingery (Mac), Logan Gilbert (Drafted
2021.1.7| Mac), Nolan Gorman (Drafted 2019.1.6|
Mac)

My thoughts:
In the short term, I think Mac/Alex & Carter have
benefitted from their pitching acquisitions. In the
long term, Eddie still has a chance if either of these
prospects make good on their high ranking and turn
into a good pro.

31

Tree 5

2019.1 (Carter) – Nick Madrigal drafted by Hammy at 1.8
2019.2.9 – Ryan Mountcastle drafted by Ryan C
2020.1.1 – Julio Rodriguez drafted by Eddie
2020.1.5 – Dylan Carlson drafted by Hammy
2020.2 (Ryan C) – Corbin Carroll drafted by Jared at 2.9
2020.3 (Hammy) – DL Hall drafted by Hammy at 3.1
2020.3 (Ryan C) – Jordan Groshans drafted by Eddie at 3.9
After the dust settles…
Carter gets: Ramos (Urby)
Urby gets: Castellanos (Hammy)
Hammy gets: Herrera (Urby), Maeda (Ryan C), Marquez (Ryan C), Renfroe (Jared), Mejia (Jared), May (Eddie), Dylan
Carlson (Drafted 2020.1.5 | Eddie)
Ryan C gets: Turner(Hammy), Rosario(Hammy), Ryan Mountcastle (Drafted 2019.2.9 | Hammy)
Jared gets: McMahon (Hammy), Corbin Carroll (Drafted 2020.2.9 | Hammy)
Eddie gets: Julio Rodriguez (Drafted 2020.1.1
| Hammy), Jordan Groshans (Drafted
2020.3.9 | Hammy)
My thoughts:
Ryan and Hammy traded the same pick
between themselves 3 times, basically a
wash for those 3 trades. Eddie again seems
to come out with the best draft
pick/prospect. Overall I think Hammy should
maybe take a pause before trading picks, in
this exchange they turned into some good
players.

32

Tree 6

2020.1.1 – Julio Rodriguez drafted by Eddie
2020.1 (Derek) – Dylan Carlson drafted by Hammy at 1.5
2021.1 (Derek) – Emerson Hancock draft by Hammy at 1.4
2020.3.9 – Jordan Groshans drafted by Eddie
2022.2 (Allan) – Daniel Espino drafted by Derek at 2.2
2022.2 (Ryan D) – Jackson Jobe drafted by Derek at 2.3
2022.4.9 – Dustin Harris drafted by Eddie
After the dust settles…
Derek gets: Blackmon, Daniel Espino (Drafted 2022.2.2 | Eddie), Jackson Jobe (Drafted 2022.2.3 | Eddie)
Eddie gets: Alfaro, Altuve, Julio Rodriguez (Drafted 2020.1.1 | Hammy), Jordan Groshans (Drafted 2020.3.9 |
Hammy), Dustin Harris (Drafted 2022.4.9 | Derek), 2024.3.Ryan D, 2023.1.Derek
Hammy gets: May (Eddie), Cabrera (Allan), Gonzales (Allan), Gonzalez (Ryan D), Carlson (Drafted 2020.1.5 | Eddie),
Emerson Hancock (Drafted 2021.1.4 | Eddie), 2023.1.Ryan D
Ryan D gets: Pagan (Hammy), Urias (Eddie),
Marte (Hammy), 2023.3.Eddie
Allan gets: Eovaldi (Hammy), Hosmer (Hammy)

My thoughts:
So this is the only trade with roots in 2018 that
still has outstanding picks associated with it.
Derek traded picks as far out into the future as
was allowed at the time, and that helped
extend this even further. That first trade was
not a good one for Derek as he tried to
capitalize on his championship window. I think
Derek has recouped nicely though, getting
Espino and Jobe back in trading yet another
first rounder to Eddie. This trade tree also
interacts with the previous one, but it would
have made it too convoluted to add this in
there.

33

Rank Team Average Best Worst
1 Need The DP 2.00 1 6
2 Gutter Sluts 3.92 1 9
3 Bad Specimen 4.50 1 10
4 5.58 1 10
5 Team Urby 5.75 2 10
6 Team Commish 6.17 3 11
T7 Eddie Money-Ball 7.08 3 11
T7 7.08 2 10
9 The Beast 7.17 2 12
10 Titty Sprinkles 8.25 3 12
11 Demolishers 8.75 4 11
12 11.75 10 12
Hammy
Dodger
I Raped Papi

34

Coming off of his first Championship, Carter’s rebuilt and re-tooled squad is sporting a “New
Team Who Dis” look for the 2022 season. This does not apply just to the players on his roster but
also to the picks he has assigned new found value to. The 2022 version of the Oakland A's
comes to mind when examining Carter's currently constructed roster. (Editor’s Note: This review
was written before subsequent trades were made)

Key Additions/Departures - This section could be the subject of Grad School Thesis as the
turnover has been so heavy on “I Raped Papi” this off season. Fantrax’s Transaction History
shows he was involved in 14 trades with 8 different managers. In these trades 39 total players
found new rosters and 28 picks (to include six 1st Rounders). All of these must constitute new
records for a manager’s offseason roster construction. During the Veteran Free Agent Auction,
Carter was able to scoop up 19 new roster additions and spent roughly $230 in salary, a PPBDL
version of the real life Texas Rangers spending spree.

Infield - Led by the best 3B in baseball in Nolan “pencil them in” type guys that are going to produce
Arenado, IRP’s approach looks to be one of with little risk. The rest….led by Turnbull and Quantrill
multi-positional eligibility and under-the-radar quality seem to be streamers that have a chance to get hot
production. Save for Keibert Ruiz at the Catcher and do well in 2-start weeks. With very little value
position, each INF is projected to hit 22 or more waiting in the minors I would expect to see a few of
HRs(lineup from Fantrax as of 03APR22). Solak and these players dropped for other SPs on the waiver
Merrifield in the UTL and Bench spots, respectively, wire and / or moved to a contender. (EDIT: preview
bring this down but add flexibility, depth, and Speed was written before Verlander and Sale were traded)
on the base paths. It will be interesting to see how
Carter rolls out the 2B tandem of Urias / Merrifeild Bullpen - This is the most difficult portion of the
(Polanco has 2B eligibility, as well) and the 3B preview to write as with the current bullpen setup IRP
mashers in Arenado / Rendon. I’d like to make a is slated to earn zero Saves and zero Holds for the
prediction that some combination of these players is season. This could absolutely change throughout the
moved at the deadline as IRP continues to reshape course of the year with injuries, waivers, trades, etc.
his roster over the course of this season. The INF but as of now Carter is prepared to give each
group does have a few major prospects waiting in the opponent a two category handicap on a weekly basis.
wings to provide reinforcements for the future. Very interesting indeed.

Outfield - This position group arguably leaves the Window of Contention - This season should see
most to be desired on the roster. Guys like Austin Carter in the bottom three of the league with little to
Hays, Kyle Lewis, and Hunter Renfroe look like no hope to contend. Now that we got the bad news
placeholders as IRP waits for the absolutely elite out of the way….2024-2028 could be a SCARY good
prospects to make their debut(s) (heal up Riley!). run for Carter with the amount of ELITE prospects in
Duran sits on the bench and will likely stay there as his stable. His proven method of break neck tear
he is not projected to have a meaningful role for the downs followed by a huge influx of veteran talent and
BoSox this year. Renfroe looks to return to his light deep postseason run(s) should be on full display for
tower power ways and should easily bring in 30+ the next half decade. This season (and maybe into
bombs playing for a good MIL ball club. This may be next) will be rough and might even challenge for the
the weakest group for the 2022 season but the 2023 league loss record. Good luck, Carter!
season might look like the exact opposite as these
young guns graduate to The Show and realize their 35
full potential.

Starting Pitching - This SP crop looks like a mixture
of the perennial 2015-2019 Cy Young candidates and
risky streamer quality arms. Names that standout
from this (recently acquired) group are Verlander,
Sale, Greinke, and Ryu. The first two are injured and
looking to return to form while the latter two are

The only team in the league to go to TWO championships and lose them both. Would
you rather be the Dodgers of the 2017 and 2018 season and come up short, or be the
laughing stock of the league like the DBacks and be eliminated from playoffs from day 1
of the season essentially? Some might argue on both sides, but both the Dodgers and
the Dbacks stood in the same place each of 2017 and 2018…watching someone else
holding up the trophy. Today’s day and age is full of pansy parents out there fighting for
the inclusion of their shitty, unathletic kids, and want to say that if you're second place or
last place you did great, and deserve an appreciation trophy. Well not in MLB and not in
the PPBDL is there such a thing. If you don’t win it all, it’s a failure whether you wanna
tell yourself something different or not. There is ONE flag each year and ONE flag only.
Just like the Dodgers for many, many years they didn’t have a flag to raise as their fans
argued “at least we made it to the World Series.” Urby has that same claim to his team, “at least I’ve gone
to the championship twice.” BUT, fuck that and Urby is a man and that’s not the stance he takes, as he
knows that’s not good enough for himself. He got beat by a team that didn’t have a full roster, and doesn’t
even know the rules of the league. What an embarrassment. And a couple of his guys, HIS YANKEES,
had the chance to lock up his first flag in PPBDL on Sunday night baseball on the last day of the regular
season and FAILED. Just like the Dodgers, just like the rest of his fantasy team.

Key Additions/Departures: That being said, Urby has made an even bigger push this offseason going
for his first flag. He started the offseason off by trading away a top 3B prospect and a couple picks in
2023, for Josh Hader and Jose Ramirez, two perennial players at their respective positions from the
defending champ. All while not promoting Mike Soroka to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft, losing a guy
who could be a top pitcher if his achilles ever wants to play fair again. Two steps forward, one step back.
Still positive on the offseason. Like his first trade this offseason, as the saying goes, “if you can’t beat
them, join them.” Urby again trades with the defending champ a 1st round pick in 2022 for Framber
Valdez and a future 4th. A step in the right direction to winning now. Urby then retains one guy in the RFA
draft in Devin Williams who is a top RP but one that likes to break his hand while punching a wall on the
way to the playoffs.. seems fit for an Urby ran team. Urby had a decent UFA auction and most of the
drafted hitters are all older and either past their prime or at the end of their prime, outside of maybe DJ,
and went pretty heavy in RP to fill some gaps in his pitching staff. Max Fried is the lone standout in the
rotation as all other UFA pickups are old pitchers past their prime or unproven flier in Tanner Houck. The
glaring question regarding his team is WHEN WANDER? But the issue with that is he has Gleyber
blocking the way. BUT should Gleyber really be blocking the way??

Window of Contention: After this season Urby will have quite a few guys hitting Rule 5 if he doesn’t
make any moves. We all know Wander will be up just WHEN, and Kirilloff, Bart, Mize, and probably
Groome and Florial. With only one standout in that group of names as most haven’t lived up to their
potential yet, this almost looks like the last year of contention for Urby for a couple years. Playoffs this
season could be an easier route then most years as he has the defending champ in his division, which no
one knows what he is doing, but from the looks of it looks like he is on full tank mode. Need the DP and
Titty have made improvements but the division is his for the taking as the last loser from last year. I don’t
see Urby’s team making a huge push for a flag this year, but it looks like that every year, and his team
comes out battling week after week, and gets hot going into playoffs. IS this the year that he takes the
leap and grabs a flag, or is this another heartbreak year where he'll be watching with the other 10 as
someone else holds up the flag? Time will tell, but my money is on the field by a long shot.

36

Once again Eddie is looking like he will find himself at the top of the PPBDL food chain. Led by his
stacked outfield of Acuna, Soto, and Gallo, Eddie's offense looks to put up big numbers. Big
offseason additions of India and Sal Perez with a couple veteran bats who could boom or bust
give Eddie a lot of potential offensively. His pitching, led by Cole, Woodruff, and Peralta, and
anchored by Hendricks and Kimbrel, is loaded with Cy Young candidates and all-star relievers set
to compete for every pitching category. With tons of prospect talent waiting in the wings Eddie is
ready to take another run at that allusive second flag.

Key Additions: As always, team Eddie Moneyball is ready to compete for another championship.
Eddie completely revamped his entire team this year, with the exception of his two star outfielders,
Acuna and Soto. Eddie built his team around 4 Rookie deals for big time hitters and 2 cheap
all-star pitchers. This allowed him to have the most available money to spend on the UFA, and boy
did he spend. Eddie abandoned his Moneyball ways and got the top paid player in this year's UFA,
Gerrit Cole. Eddie didn't stop there. He also went and got the top catcher in the league and spent
over $18+ for 3 different relievers. All that to say, Eddie stocked his team back up and is ready to compete this
season yet again.
Key Departures: Eddie traded or dropped pretty much his entire team from last season. Some key departures were
Jared Walsh, Mike Trout, George Springer, Logan Webb, Jose Altuve, Frankie Lindor, Manny Machado, Ketel Marte,
and Trevor Rogers. You would think losing players like that, Eddie wouldn't be competing this year. But he was able
to add Sal Perez, Jonathan India, Joey Gallo, Gerrit Cole, Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff, Liam Hendricks, and
Craig Kimbrel. This was a Carter level teardown and rebuild.

Infield - Eddie's infield features an interesting mix the league in steals and Baddoo is another
of older players and young talent. He has Sal breakout player from last year with 20/20 potential.
Perez at catcher, coming off a career year setting
the MLB record for home runs by a catcher, backed Starting pitching - Eddie's starting pitching is
up by young Tyler Stephenson who showed a lot of something to behold. He has two Brewers pitchers
promise last year. Eddie is starting two former who had big breakout years in Woodruff and
all-stars at the corners with Joey Votto and Josh Peralta for $1 each. Then Eddie went and signed
Donaldson. Votto had a great bounce back season Gerrit Cole to the second highest contract in
last year and if he can capture some of that magic PPBDL history of $98. To get three aces for a total
again will be one of the biggest steals of the UFA. of $100 is a pretty good deal, even if one costs
Donaldson is great when he plays, but that has 98% of that. Eddie rounds out his SP with Andrew
been very rare over the last few years. He is Heaney, Elieser Hernandez, Tyler Megill, and Alex
another boom or bust guy that Eddie could get a lot Cobb. Definitely a stars and scrubs approach but
of value for cheap. Up the middle he has reigning with those top three guys and some top prospects
NL ROY Jonathn India at 2nd and a breakout waiting in the wings, Eddie is sitting pretty for SP.
young player Nicky Lopez at SS. India's success
last year is well documented but he is primed to be Bullpen - In an out of character move, Eddie
a 20 HR/100 Runs stud hitting in the leadoff spot signed some of the top available relievers in the
for the Reds. Lopez broke out last year and could UFA for big money. Eddie has been king of pitching
be another steal for Eddie this year. on waivers or streaming the last few years so to
see Eddie get 3 relievers at $18+ with 2 of those at
Outfield - Eddie's outfield is definitely one of his $26+ was shocking to say the least. Regardless,
strengths. With Acuna and Soto holding down the Eddie is stacked at RP. He has 8 players signed as
fort, Eddie went and got Joey Gallo in a trade to RP only eligible, led by Hendricks and Kimbrel. Not
play LF, Akil Baddoo through UFA for depth, and sure what his plan is with all of these relievers but
retained Myles Straw through RFA for those steals. it's Eddie’s so I am sure he knows something I
Acuna, Soto, and Gallo could be one of the best don't about these guys.
OF's in our league and will be tough to beat as the
season goes. Straw is a dark horse favorite to lead

Window of Contention: Eddie is coming down to the last two years of cheap control on his big star outfielders
so his window is narrowing to compete as he is now. With that said, Eddie still has a lot of talent in his farm
system that could extend his window if he is able to hit on a few of those young players. Either way team Eddie

Moneyball is going to continue to be a perennial contender for a few more years to come.

37

A well-balanced team that’s solidly in the top half of the league in both hitting
and pitching, setting up to be very competitive across nearly all categories, with
the exceptions of saves and steals.
Infield: Led by a two-headed monster at first with Vlad Jr and Jose Abreu. But
don’t sleep on the left side of the infield with defending World Champions
Dansby Swanson and Austin Riley. The development of Nick Madrigal would
round out the infield nicely.
Outfield: Beast’s revamped OF features generational talent Mookie Betts and
some added pop from Jorge Soler. The improved bats come at the expense of
speed on the basepaths with the losses of Starling Marte and potential breakout
candidate Akil Baddoo.
Starting pitching: Led by Zack Wheeler, this is a DEEP rotation with a few
Opening Day starters, a couple strong No. 2 starters, a couple aging former
aces, and a bounce-back candidate in Dylan Bundy.
Bullpen: One of the top holds bullpens in the league, also with starting pitchers masquerading
as relievers, should contribute across all pitching categories except saves.
Window of Contention: Beast is built to contend now and to continue contending well into the
future with a balance of win-now pieces, long-term and rookie contracts, minor leaguers waiting
in the wings, and the ENTIRE 4th round of next year’s amateur draft.

38

Demolishers look to show everyone what they are made of after facing adversity right
out of the gate. They'll need to see significant uptick in year over year contribution from
key support players after taking an early dagger to the heart with Fernando Tatis doing
what he does best, getting injured. Tatis will be desperately missed and Team Demo will
be praying for a speedy recovery.

Key Additions: Team Demo has no shortage of big trades starting off in the offseason
trading away some young talent in a trade to acquire the greatest 3rd baseman
Colorado has ever seen, Kris Bryant. He also hit it hard following the winter meetings
with transactions to acquire some relief pitching depth, a strong replacement for Tatis in
former Rockies SS Trevor Story, and two arms that were desperately needed in Pablo
Lopez and Tyler Mahle. In acquiring Story he made undoubtedly his biggest move of the
offseason, getting rid of the cancer that is Trevor Bauer. All in all I love the offseason
transactions as he added some much needed depth to the team.

Demo didn’t need much coming into the draft but was able to make a splash in the infield acquiring
Freddie Freeman. He also added Plesac and will need a big bounce back season from Zach.

Infield - Far and away the strongest part of the Additional Considerations/Fun Facts:
team with Freeman, Turner, Kris Bryant, Story -Not a single player named Derek on his team
and Tatis on the mend. Not sure there is a better -No known democrats on the team
IF in the league than this one right here, -Not a single player on the team can bench
especially with a healthy Tatis. more than Jared, including Franmil
-Prospect361 has Bryan Reynolds as the
Outfield - Very soft. Needs quite a bit of help favorite to win the HR crown setting a single
and will likely need to hit the waivers early and season record of 91 HR.
hard for young hidden breakout talent to utilize
Bryant at 3rd and find additional OF help 39
elsewhere.

Pitching: Adding Sanchez and Mahle gives him
a chance but much like his OF I still think he’s
going to need some help here. A lot will need to
happen to be able to compete with the top
pitching staffs in the league but if Sanchez can
continue to grow, Plesac bounces back, and
Mahle builds on an impressive 2021, he might
have a chance.

Window of Contention: My prediction for Demo
is in the mix all season but narrowly misses the
playoffs. Demo has plenty of firepower to put up
big numbers and beat any team in the league,
but will likely struggle to win on a consistent
basis as he’ll likely be let down by an
inconsistent pitching staff and a dependency on
a few star hitters that won’t be able to always
carry the team to a win.

Once again Team Commish heads into another PPBDL season looking solid. With a
well balanced lineup that's led by the return of Pete Alonso, Commish will look to ride
his multiple aces into yet another deep playoff run. Commish has plenty of cap space
remaining, as well as plenty of draft picks to add players during the season. After not
spending big in the auction, I’m guessing Commish isn't satisfied with his current roster
and will look to make a big splash on the trade market.

Key Additions/Departures: Overall, Team Commish gained more than he lost. The
additions of Marcus Semien, Corey Seager and Pete Alonso add much needed power
into his lineup. The three of them combined to hit 95 home runs last year and will be
good bets to do that again this coming season. They are also all on very affordable contracts which will
help Commish build for the future. The only real loss in my opinion was that of Cedric Mullins. Anytime
you trade away a 30/30 player, it will be tough to replace. Seager is an upgrade over Javy Baez and
Cavan Biggio hasn't turned into the player everyone thought he could be. Commish did an excellent job
getting better this offseason.

Infield - One of the best infields going into the Bullpen - Team Commish has some work to do
2022 season. Commish will have plenty of in the bullpen. All four of his relievers could find
power to go along with the possible MLB stolen themselves closing or in setup up roles. They
base leader. There is always a concern with the should provide good numbers out of the pen but
health of Seager but when healthy he is one of it will remain to be seen if they can provide
the best SS in baseball. Semien and Seager enough saves and holds for Commish to
could be the best up the middle combo in the compete in those categories weekly.
league, especially in their new home in Texas.
Window of Contention: Commish will always
Outfield - To start the season Commish will be a team ready to compete. Each year Josh
have a decent OF but will be looking forward to puts together a team capable of winning it all.
the return of Laureano and the eventual call up He has plenty of young talent in his minor
of Jarred Kelenic. Winker provides solid league system with Mayer, Luciano, and Kelenic
production in LF and Grichuk will add another waiting their turn. I see Commish making several
power bat to the lineup, playing in CO will make trades during the first part of the season and
sure of that. There is some room for pushing for a playoff spot. Between the sizable
improvement in the OF but that can be easily cap space and the production he will get from
fixed as the season progresses. cheap contracts Commish will be in contention
each and every year.
Starting Pitching - Commish boasts one of the
best starting rotations in the league. This group 40
of starters can easily carry Commish weekly.
Bieber and Giolito are both Cy Young caliber
pitchers who will record plenty of strikeouts to go
along with low WHIP’s and ERA’s. Ober was a
solid pickup in the auction this year for Josh, as
he should continue to improve in his second
year in the big leagues. There isn't much more
to say other than I wouldn't be surprised to see
Commish ride his horses to the playoffs.

I mean, listen, we're talking about closers. Not Trout! Not Devers! Not Xander! We're
talking about closers. Not Realmuto; not Adames that I have waiting to go out there and
die for and play every game like it's his last, not Adames, we're talking about closers,
man. I mean, how silly is that? We're talking about closers. I know I can only play 4 at a
time, I know that. And I'm not shoving aside starters like they don't mean anything. I
know it's important. I do. I honestly do. But we're talking about closers, man. What are
we talking about? Closers? We're talking about closers, man.

Closers always get top billing when it comes to discussing Need the DP, but when it
comes to the 2022 season, it shouldn't be where the conversation stops. The offense
appears legitimately worrisome, and it looks like there are enough starting arms there to
provide a balanced attack. Yes, there are still 3 more relievers than reliever lineup
positions. With some lineup diligence, this will help guarantee winning those reliever
categories most weeks.

Key Additions: Mike Trout, Max Scherzer, Xander Bogaerts
Key Departures: Walker Buehler

Buehler was a departure, but Need the DP got the Barlow brothers, Jose Berrios and a future 2nd
rounder. This was a great way to get value by turning 1 great player into 3 good players. Those additions
in addition to the free agency spending spree have made our Android team quite dangerous.

Infield - This is reminiscent of the
Goldschmidt/Altuve/Lindor/Machado infield that
The Beast sported the first few years of the
league, although this version is much cheaper.
Including C, this might be the best infield in the
league.

Outfield - Now we're talking about Trout. He is
about the only thing worth discussing in this
outfield. Haniger and Schwarber have some
pop, but not a lot of contributions outside of that.

Starting Pitching - There are a handful of Window of Contention - It would not be out
players in the stable here who throw absolute
cheese and are in the top 15 of average fastball of place if our doctor was dreaming of his name
velocity. Alcantara, Berrios, Eovaldi, Montas, on the trophy at this point in the season. This is
and Scherzer is a good rotation, depending on definitely a realistic outcome for this season and
Scherzer's return to health. For the price, Need maybe next. Based on the way the contracts
the DP is really hoping that he returns to some look at this point in time, his team will look
semblance of his former glory. considerably different in 2 years. Well, unless he
resigns them in UFA like he did w/ Xander this
Bullpen - A bunch of arms as always, all of offseason.
them good to solid. Most of the relievers are on
teams that should be good, giving more 41
opportunities to his players. I'm not sure any of
the names really stand out as exceptional, but
Diaz, Jansen and Gallegos should shoulder the
bulk of the success here.

Coming into the 2022 season Hammy has said enough is enough. In the midst of a 5 year playoff
drought, Hammy has made a valiant effort to stack his team to compete every week. In the early
stages of the offseason Hammy made a huge move in acquiring the 2021 NL MVP Bryce Harper,
while also making a flurry of other moves to totally revamp his team. The offense as well as the
pitching both have high floors with the chance of high ceilings to hopefully propel Hammy to win
the Downtown division and into a deep playoff run. As with any other team, injuries could derail
Hammy’s team to a downward spiral. But I believe if his superstars stay healthy a majority of the
year he should be able to overcome the small injuries as he mixes and matches his deep lineup.
This could be the year we finally see Hammy back in the playoffs for another deep playoff run like
the one we saw in 2016.

Infield: If there is a weak spot in Hammy’s lineup, it Starting Pitching: Boom or Bust
would be the infield. While they will be able to hit the is the name of the game with
long ball, it remains to be seen if Matt Chapman and Hammy’s starting pitchers. Most if
Eugenio Suarez will be able to find the success they not all of his starting pitchers have
once did a couple years ago. Brandon Lowe and not had more than 1 season of
Jared Walsh will headline his starting infield providing above average production. On
lots of power and stability in the lineup. If any of these paper the starting pitching looks
guys struggle out of the gate, he can mix and match legit headlined by Logan Webb,
with the always reliable Jake Cronenworth who will Alek Manoah, Ian Anderson and
not provide a lot of power but will contribute in most Zac Gallen. Hammy totally
other categories including stolen bases. Hammy may revamped his starting pitchers
need to upgrade at his catcher position by the acquiring Webb, Gallen, Manoah, Cease and Eflin via
deadline as Carson Kelly is a below average offensive trade in the offseason. Logan Webb is a possible Cy
catcher. Not to mention with Spencer Torkelson young candidate after the breakout year in 2021. Alek
waiting in the wings. Manoah is the most interesting of the bunch, only in
his second year after an outstanding rookie season
Outfield: Hammy will have a strong outfield in 2022. will produce in all categories but can he replicate it?
Adding arguably one of the best hitters in baseball in Providing he stays healthy, Zac Gallen could be
Bryce Harper boosting the power and OBP while another Cy young worthy candidate but will not help
mixing in stolen bases is the complete package. If with wins. Ian Anderson and Dylan Cease are young
Adolis Garcia can replicate his rookie season with but both highly capable of breaking out and being
another 30 HR and 15 SB season, will make these Hammy’s two best pitchers. Rounding out the bottom
two a good 1-2 punch in the lineup. Eddie Rosario is a half of his rotation with Veterans Zach Eflin and Marco
bit of a wildcard as we have seen the bad and the Gonzales should give Hammy a safer floor.
good with him, but he will be able to contribute in
most of the categories as well. Hopefully Giancarlo Bullpen: A very strong reliever core for Hammy. Ryan
Stanton can receive the OF eligibility during the Pressly and Aroldis Chapman are two of the best
season which will give Hammy the best OF in the closers in the league and both play for very good
league possibly and if not he will always have a solid teams which will give them plenty of opportunities for
player cemented in the UT spot. saves in 2022. Chad Green, Brad Boxberger and
Andrew Chafin will help a ton in the Holds category as
well.

Window of Contention: As we all know Hammy likes to change his team quite a bit with trades so who knows what
we will see in the next 1-2 years, but as of writing this today his team looks like it could be competitive for the next 2-3
years. With only 1 player scheduled to come off the books after 2022, it looks like Hammy can have this same core of
players in 2023. While I believe Hammy will compete for this division in 2022, I don’t think he will win it. Instead he will
be a wildcard team and will make a playoff run. I think I speak for everyone when I say we want this playoff drought to
end!

42

It’s remarkable what Alex has done in just over one full calendar year as manager of
this franchise. Instead of resorting to a full scale blow up when he took over after the
conclusion of the 2020 season, Alex chose to strategically remove certain pieces,
while keeping others, spending wisely in free agency, and executing in the Amateur
Draft. What he’s accomplished is putting together one of, if not the most balanced
team in the league. There are no easily identifiable weaknesses on this roster. Eight
out of nine offensive starters have a shot at 30 bombs and will slug in the upper
.400’s or higher. The starting rotation is very deep. The bullpen might be the “worst”
of the group but is not bad by any means. Titty has very quietly turned this franchise

from abandoned team to sleeper very quickly.

Infield: This offseason saw Titty bring in new key repeat very good 2021
faces to sure up the infield with Muncy, Hayes, and seasons. Sonny Gray and Alex
Marte. Muncy will likely hold down first base with Wood were brought in via Free
Marte occupying the keystone, and defensive wizard Agency and will both be good
Kayes came over from Hammy to handle the hot producers in all four starting
corner. Yasmani Grandal is still a great catcher pitching categories. Lance Lynn was acquired in a
(especially in OBP leagues), and Bo Bichette could trade this offseason and unfortunately will be sidelined
end up as the top fantasy shortstop by season’s end. for the first month of the season, but will contribute big
Overall, this infield can compete with any infield in time to wins and strikeouts when he returns. John
PPBDL. Justin Turner and Luke Voit have been Means and Kyle Gibson round out the rotation and
relegated to the bench after starting last year, and are Titty could do much worse for his 8th and 9th starters.
admirable fill-ins on off days for the corner infield Lastly, Titty swung a post Free Agency trade for Justin
spots. Verlander who is returning from Tommy John surgery,
after missing the entire 2021 season. He’s 39, and
Outfield: If there’s one thing this outfield will do, it will who knows what he’ll have left in the tank, but if he
definitely mash. If Tyler O’Neil continues his returns to anything close to what he was before the
production from his breakout in the second half of surgery (Cy Young), Titty has himself a second ace.
2021, and newly acquired George Springer stays
healthy, this outfield will be scary good. Nick Bullpen: The bullpen is solid if not unspectacular. Will
Castellanos will put up big numbers in a good Phillies Smith and Kendall Gravemen will get plenty of holds
lineup, and all three combined with old man Nelson on two great teams. While saves could be a little
Cruz at the UT spot will be launching homers all shakier, it appears that Taylor Rogers has a lock on
season long. All four mentioned are projected by the closing job in Minnesota and if Corey Knebel
Fantrax to hit over 30 home runs and slug over .500. stays healthy, he will be a steal at $8. The wildcard for
If Cruz was in a better lineup, they would all be this whole bullpen is Dinelson Lamet. Injured for
projected for over 90 RBI also. If there’s one knock nearly all of 2021, Lamet will now pitch out of the
here it is the lack of depth. The only other outfielder bullpen for the Padres, at least to start the 2022
on the roster is Michael Brantley, although Ketel Marte campaign. Equipped with SP eligibility, if Lamet is put
can slide to CF if needed. in high leverage situations and earns holds and/or
saves, he will be the ultimate cheat code. While $23
Starting Pitching: Led by ace Aaron Nola, the may be expensive for a recently injured pitcher that
starting rotation goes at least eight deep. Adam will start out as a reliever, if his health holds up, it may
Wainwright came back for one more year and he, well be worth the price.
along with new Giant Carlos Rodon, will both look to

Window of Contention: With only five current contracts set to expire after 2022, this team is built to win for at least
the next two years. With a good farm system, that window should be extended out further as well. Titty has done very
well with taking over this team in a short period of time, and has turned it into a sleeper in 2022, with a very real shot
at making some noise in the playoffs over the next two seasons at least.

43

The key for Dodger Blue in 2022 is going to be “Showing Up”. Dodger Blue on
paper has the potential to win the West Valley division, which seems to be the
least formidable of the three in 2022. Although he left more than $50 on the
table during the auction with a few large pitching vacancies and multiple high
level arms going relatively cheap, the potential to be competitive is there if the
following happen: Rhys, Javy, and Hendricks show up like 2018, and if Jo,
Carlson, and Luzardo show up for the first time. If the whole squad can just do
what they’re supposed to do, Dodger can compete for a first round Bye.

Key Additions/Departures: Dodgers acquisition whirlwind really started at the 2021 deadline
selling Seager, Trevino, Hader, and Cruz to Carter for 2 picks and Bellinger. He then re-acquired
Seager along with Machado and Cease. A month later he turned Chapman, Detmers, and
Bellinger into Luzardo and Sixto. Shortly after, he traded the 2022 10th and 13th picks along
with Keibert Ruiz and Luis Urias for Whitley, Martin, Kjerstad, and Dylan Carlson. Dodger
wasn’t done there, as he decided to re-acquire Bellinger and Nester Cortes for Eury Perez and
a 2025 2nd. He then pulled the big one. Selling Alonso and Seager with picks for Javy Baez,
Cavin Biggio, and Cedric Mullins. Polishing off a wild 2021-2022 off season Dodger, added
Correa, JD Martinez, and Darvish in UFA.

Infield: Smith, Hoskins, Baez, Machado, Correa form a formidable crew that can win four
offensive categories any week. Speed may be a challenge for the front four.

Outfield: Adell, Mullins, Carlson, and Bellinger will
make up for what speed the infield lacks. If three of
the four can live up to the hype that has surrounded
the group for the last few years, this could be a top
three PPBDL OF. Lots of potential in the OF
followed closely by question marks.

Starting pitching: The biggest unknown for
Dodger Blue will be the SP group. Plenty of live
arms but only one proven commodity in Darvish.
Paddack, Luzardo, Taillion, and Hendricks could
land Dodger anywhere from a 6-12 SP overall rank
this season.

Bullpen: Dodger forgot that holds and saves count in the PPBDL.

Window of Contention: With almost all the offense under control through 2023, if Dodger can
figure out some SP he has a shot for the next two seasons. If not, it might be a time to retool
and reload for 2024 around deadline time.

44

Who remembers the 1986 Mets? Unless you’re a Red Sox fan, this Mets
team is easy to forget. Nothing flashy from ownership, not engaged in TV
show or media antics. Just a solid, put together team that went on to win the
WORLD SERIES. Bad Specimen has everything they need to raise a flag in
the PPBDL for the very first time. Without a glaring hole on the roster, better
injury luck, and bounce back seasons, the entire PPBDL could be looking
up at Bad Specimen Collection at the end of the year. Let’s take a look.

Infield: Gary Sanchez, Goldschmidt, Tommy Edman, Tim Anderson and
Alex Bregman combine to make up a solid infield that will put up all the right
numbers. Bounce back seasons from Gary Sanchez and Alex Bregman is
key though. Sanchez will benefit from the DH role and Bregman is a Top 10
player when he is clicking. All this being said, the margin for error is small.
With Goldy and Rizzo aging, when is their regression going to take place,
and what happens if Edman doesn’t take the next step? On paper this unit
is strong, but injuries and regression could put Bad Specimen in a trading
deadline upgrade mode.

Outfield: What
is there not to like here? Yelich had
one bad season and everyone
wrote him off and some places don’t
even have him as a Top 100 player
anymore. Expect a bounce back
season there. Buxton? MVP in the
making and is only getting better.
Kyle Tucker…same. Aaron Judge
rounds out this group, and if healthy
he is a world beater. I am high on
this group, sure we need to see
improvement and positive health but if that happens watch out.

Starting pitching: Solid with tremendous upside with a return to health. Can Ray duplicate his
2021 season in Seattle? Will Thor finally live up to his potential and stay healthy? Clevinger,
Sale and McCullers will start the season on the IL but if they come back healthy, I am not sure
there is a better pitching unit from top to bottom.

Bullpen: One group that is lacking on this team, should push for holds with May, Romano and
Lorenzen but there is little room here for error. This team will live and die by the SP for Pitching
category metrics.

Window of Contention: This team could have a three year run, and nobody would bat an
eye….or they will need to do a mini-rebuild if the health of some of these superstars never
return. I tend to think that they will return to health and with enough team friendly contracts, Bad
Specimen can go on a run of flags.

45

Entering the PPBDL 2022 season, Gutter Sluts looks to go from worst to first. Ryan
has done a nice job rebuilding through several key trades. He acquired several
young pieces to build around and mixed in a few veterans at the auction. His team
looks ready to make a serious run at the title if everyone stays healthy.

Key Additions: Jazz Chisholm, Francisco Lindor, Randy Arozarena, Trevor Bauer, Jacob
Degrom, Walker Buehler
Key Departures: Trevor Story, Jesus Luzardo, Sixto Sanchez

Most of the Key Additions/Subtractions were done through trades. Ryan is well known in the
PPBDL for his hand in the championship run of his son, who also openly claims to have
raped him. Ryan has done a great job getting young, cheap, controllable talent to build around. Up and coming stars
like Jazz Chisholm make Gutter Sluts a true contender. The question of health surrounding Degrom and the looming
suspension hanging over Bauer make it hard to predict if shipping out Jose Berrios before he ever threw a pitch for
him, and trading away Luzardo are too much to overcome. Overall, Ryan has done an excellent job retooling while
not giving up many key pieces.

Infield - The infield is talented but young. Mountcastle Bullpen - I will spend about as much time reviewing
is unproven at first base but has the potential to hit this section as Ryan spent putting his bullpen
25+ home runs. Jazz and Lindor make a nice combo together, which is zero. Not really sure if during his “I
up the middle with them both possessing 20/20 have a plan” offseason he ever remembered that in
potential. Jazz needs to show he can take a step this league saves and holds are counted. To make
forward in his second full season. Third base is a matters even worse, Gutter Sluts has the Tigers (77
weak spot for Team Gutter Sluts. With several high projected wins) and the Pirates (64 Projected wins)
profile third basemen available in the auction it was closers! Word of advice for Team Gutter Sluts is to call
somewhat surprising that Ryan chose to stay with up Need the DP, he knows a thing or two about
J.D. Davis. Besides Abrams waiting in the wings, closers.
Gutter Sluts is thin on infield depth, health will once
again prove key.

Outfield - Gutter Sluts is loaded in the outfield. All 4
of these players have 25+ home run power. All on
cheap contracts, this outfield could stay together for
a long time. The only hurdle will be if they can stay
on the field. Robert and Eloy both have had issues in
the past with injuries.

Starting Pitching - As the Dodgers go, so will Team Window of Contention: Gutter Sluts has done an
Gutter Sluts. Unable (or unwilling) to obtain Kershaw excellent job creating a young, controllable team with
and complete the entire Dodgers starting rotation, loads of talent. He should immediately start
Gutter Sluts has plenty of firepower to have one of competing this season and has a young core to build
the best rotations in the league. Unfortunately for around for years to come. He still has a few top minor
Ryan, two of his top arms will begin the season on the leaguers to look forward to calling up as well. Ryan
sidelines with no real idea of when they will return. If has proven he will do whatever it takes to win and I
Severino can regain the form he had prior to TJ and expect nothing less if he is healthy and in playoff
Rodgers continues to pitch like he did during his contention again this season.
rookie season Gutter Sluts will be able to withstand
the loss of Bauer and DeGrom. This rotation will 46
provide plenty of strikeouts and wins while
maintaining low ERA’s. If all these guys are back and
healthy, Gutter Sluts should be able to ride them to a
deep playoff run.

1. No surprise to anyone, I’m an Eloy fan. Elite Power, Mega Prospect, a debut season that
was par for expectation. A Covid 2020, a freak Spring Training 2021 injury, a 2022 HR
Title. Book it.

2. The Marlins make the playoffs. They are young, energetic, have four great arms, and
four more waiting or on the way. Their offense is sneaky good and just seem to have fun.
If they can nab a few bullpen pieces and play well this shouldn’t even be that big of a
reach.

3. Byron Buxton doesn’t go on the IL all
season. You can just pencil me in for this
one every year until he turns 30 because I
want it so badly, but Bux does what every
baseball fanatic on earth wants him to do,
stay healthy and ball out all year.

4. The Phillies win the World Series. Nola,
Wheeler, Suarez, and a nasty bought and
paid for offense mash their way to a World
Series Title.

5. Only one pitcher logs 200 innings. Gerrit
Cole. Simple math that you need to log 32
six-plus inning starts to make 200ip and analytics (however you feel about them) have
changed the game.

6. Cron hits 40. With no protection, no help, and no sparkle, CJ Cron quietly launches 40
nukes into the thin air in Denver.

7. Corey Seager wins the AL MVP. Kid can
rake, he’s in a better hitter’s park, and he’s
now “the guy” just like he wanted. At
+4000 you can thank me now and buy a
drink for me later.

8. Rizzo finishes at 1B1. That Bronx Bomber
magic shows up and Rizzo goes Yahtzee
into the facade often, finishing 1B1 in
Fantrax PPBDL scoring.

9. Alek Manoah wins AL Cy Young. My
biggest regret in PPBDL is getting so
blasted on Inaugural Auction night in Las
Vegas that I sold my 4th rounder to Dodger
Blue while Manoah sat in my queue. If not,
I’d have the 2022 AL Cy Young for $4 on a Rook1 contract.

10. The Mad Dr. Niska wins the 2022 PPBDL Title.

47

Individual picks are on the Google Tracker under MLB Win Totals 22

Team Win Total Picks
Dbacks 66.5 8 over, 4 under
Braves 91.5 5 over, 7 under
Orioles 61.5 6 over, 6 under
Red Sox 85.5 6 over, 6 under
Cubs 74.5 2 over, 10 under
White Sox 93.5 9 over, 3 under
Reds 72.5 4 over, 8 under
Guardians 75.5 4 over, 8 under
Rockies 68.5 8 over, 4 under
Tigers 77.5 7 over, 5 under
Astros 92.5 7 over, 5 under
Royals 73.5 7 over, 5 under
Angels 83.5 11 over, 1 under
Dodgers 99.5 9 over, 3 under
Marlins 76.5 6 over, 6 under
Brewers 89.5 6 over, 6 under
Twins 81.5 9 over, 3 under
91.5 4 over, 8 under
Mets 91.5 8 over, 4 under
Yankees 68.5 6 over, 6 under
85.5 12 over, 0 under
A’s 64.5 2 over, 10 under
Phillies 88.5 1 over, 11 under
Pirates 86.5 6 over, 6 under
Padres 83.5 10 over, 2 under
Giants 84.5 8 over, 4 under
Mariners 90.5 4 over, 8 under
Cardinals 74.5 11 over, 1 under
Rays 92.5 10 over, 2 under
Rangers 70.5 6 over, 6 under
Blue Jays
Nationals

Division Winners Total MLB Home Runs
NL West: Dodgers (11), Giants (1) 5481, 5833, 5892, 5900, 6001, 6114,
NL Central: Brewers (7), Cardinals (5) 6127, 6211, 6233, 6305, 6700, 6750
NL East: Braves (5), Phillies (5), Mets (2)
AL West: Astros (7), Angels (4), Mariners (1)
AL Central: White Sox (12)
AL East: Blue Jays (9), Yankees (2), Red Sox
(1)

48